29 girls missing from Kanyashram in Gajapati district

Mohana: As many as 29 girl inmates are reportedly missing from Antaraba Kanyashram under Mohana block in Gajapati district Saturday night.

A poster was found pasted on the Kanyashram wall Sunday morning.

“We are going to meet the collector to rectify various long-standing problems,” the poster read.

The Kanyashram and the district administration launched a search operation at several locations but failed to trace the girls.

Collector Anupam Shah visited the school to take stock of the situation Sunday afternoon.

Shah and the superintendent of police Amulya Kumar Das said that all the police stations have been intimated and soon the girls would be traced out.

The inmates celebrated Republic Day Saturday and the celebration continued till late in the night. The staff Sunday morning found 29 students of Class IX missing. They immediately informed Mohana BDO Banshidhar Khosla and welfare extension officer Ranjan Jena. Both the officers reached the hostel and enquired about the missing students.

The officers also visited the houses of girls. However, the students neither reached their respective houses nor met the collector.

The collector also asked the teachers about the circumstances that could have led to the situation.

Meanwhile, some villagers of Tankilipadar near Chandragiri said that they have seen some 25 to 30 girls washing their faces at 9.30 am Sunday.

The Collector visited the village and asked the details from villagers.

People raised suspicion on how the students left the hostel which has a boundary wall and hostel staff.

When contacted, headmaster Manoj Kumar Rath said some students also had gone out of the hostel last month over some problems and lack of coordination between teachers. The same could be the reason for students leaving the hostel now, he pointed out.